24 Gallon JBJ Nano Cube Aquarium Review

The 24 gallon Nano Cube by JBJ is a great starter reef tank. It comes with the all in one style which makes setting up and operating very easy. It is also a small enough aquarium for anyone to keep. The filtration system is a 3 baffled chamber system which allows the own to add modifications if they want. Because the filtration compartment is built into the back this allows for filtration without hoses or the need for a sump tank. The chamber system also allows you to keep equipment like heaters and small protein skimmers out of the display area keeping a sleek clean look.

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Tank Lighting

The stock lighting in this aquarium is pretty good. It is two 36 Watt 50/50 CF lamps which will give you about 3 watts per gallon of light. This is enough light to properly keep low to medium light required corals. The lights do not produce too much heat but depending on the temperature in your house you may be required to leave the hood a little open or even purchase a chiller. There are however lots of different light systems made to replace the stock lighting to give you more light or better lighting if needed.

Stock Water Flow and Pump

With the stock return pump that you receive it does not produce a lot of current. In my opinion after buying a Nano-Cube you should definitely upgrade the return pump and add a power head to increase the flow in the tank. When I bought this aquarium I ran the stock pump for about 2 days then immediately upgraded to a maxi jet 900 and added a Koralia Nano power head to get the amount of flow I was looking for. I believe the stock pump would only be sufficient if you were setting the tank up for fresh water but for salt it does lack proper water flow.

The Filtration System

The 24 Nano cube uses a 3 chamber filtration system with in tank overflow. It comes stock loaded with multiple filter sponges, carbon packets, bio-balls, and porcelain bio filter media. The stock filtration does work just fine but in my opinion you don’t need to be using that many sponges. I have talked with many people who own Nano Cubes and most all of them do what I do. I take out all the contents in the middle chamber and just add rubble rock. Some people say that is a detrites collector just like the bio-balls but with a bi-monthly flush with some extra current this system works better for me then the stock filter media. To each his own in this portion though.

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All in All

All in all the JBJ 24 gallon Nano Cube is a great starter tank for people who want to get into reef aquariums but do not want to break the bank trying. It has many different practical uses other than a starter tank. They make great quarantine tanks or frag grow out tanks. In the end you get your money’s worth with this aquarium.